30s William Tooley, yoman lord of mysrule Among the persons whose wages were paid quar terly are these:— John Heywood, player of the virginals £6 13 4. 50s 50s Richard James, a lymner of bookes* Philip Welder, mynstrell† Vincent Vulpt, paynter . The list of those who received half-yearly wages includes the following: tract from a Book of Receipts and Payments of the Exchequer in the 18th of Henry VIII. shews that his annuity, as usual, was £40.:— 'Will Crane, Magistro Puerorum Capellæ Dom. Regis de annuitate 6 sua ad xl li per ann. sibi debit: pro termino Michaelis Anno xviiimo " Regis nunc Henrici VIII. rec: den: Willo Gonson--£10.' The same sim was paid to Crane at Christmas. The book from which I quote is in the Chapter-house. * The Book of Exchequer payments in Easter term, 24 Henry VIII., establishes that Thomas Berthelet, or, as he is there named, Bartelot, the printer, had an annuity of £4 a year : Thomæ Bartelot, Impressori Regis, de annuitate sua ad iiij li per ann. per lra de hoc termino. Rec. den: per fest. Pascha ulto per 6 manus R. Gonson 40s.' This seems to have been the first payment of the kind made to him. + In 17 Henry VIII., as appears from the account of Exchequer payments preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster, John Gylmyn was Marescallus Ministrallorum, and had seven other minstrels under him. He was succeeded in 1529 by Hugh Woodhouse. The whole household of the King included in the catalogue, from which the above are extracted, exceeded three hundred persons. By an account preserved in the Chapter-house, Westminster, of the household expenses of the natural son of Henry VIII., who had been created Duke of Richmond and Somerset in June, 1525, it appears that between 12th June, 1526, and 31st March, 1526-7, he had been several times entertained by the performances of players, and that the Council appointed for *It is not to be supposed that at this time the only player in the pay of the King was English; but after having served Henry VII. it is probable that at this time he had ceased to perform, and was still allowed half his wages and board. The following entry in a Book of Receipts and Payments of the Exchequer in 17 Henry VIII., the year when the enumeration of the King's household in the text was made out, shows that persons of the names of Richard Hole and George Mayler were then at the head of the King's Interlude Players : 'Rico Hole et Georgio Mayler, et aliis Lusoribus Dom. Regis, de 'feodis suis inter se ad x marcos per Ann. sibi debit: pro festo Michaelis, Anno xvij Regis nunc Henrici VIII. recept. denar, per manus 'proprias per litt. curr.―― -66s 8d.' Each player, therefore, received quarterly precisely the sum that was paid to John English half yearly. VOL. I. H his care and custody had paid, in that interval, £3. 18s. 8d. as rewards to players and minstrels. No particulars regarding either the companies who acted, or the pieces they represented, are furnished*. Richard Gibson's account of Revelles at Richmond and Grenewich in the time of Cristemas' (without the date of the year, but most probably in 1526) is extant in the Chapter-house, Westminster; but it furnishes no information of the nature of the entertainments, whether plays, disguisings, or merely tournaThe wages of each of the workmen, and the cost of canvass, paint, size, oil, tinsel, gold, silver, &c. are set out with the utmost minuteness and precision. ments. The account includes some other curious items of expenditure, under the head of 'Certain extraordinarye and foren charges.' The title of the whole runs thus:- Here ensueth the Charges, as well of 'the Garde of Robes and Beddes, as the Stable of the right high and 'prepotent Prince Henry, Duke of Richemond and Somerset, and Earle ' of Nottingham,' from the 12th of June, 17th of Henry VIII., to 31st March ensuing: Item paied for certayne newe yeres giftes Item rewardes yeven to diverse parsons for newe yeres 'giftes presented unto the saied Duke upon newe-yeres daye 'Item paied for charges of Greyhoundes and other 'houndes 'Item payed to players and mynstrelleis for rewardes, as appereith by a lyke bylle therof made, and signed by 'the saied Counsayll 'Item delyvered to the lorde Ogle by waye of preste for 'the kepinge of Tyndalle £. s. d. 695 9 6 8 4 10 0 3 18 8 20 0 0 11 17 10' 'Item delyvered to the Almer for certayne almes dis'tributed to poore peepull within the saied tyme. From another account, appended to the first, it appears, that jousts were held at Greenwich, at Easter of the same year, and the charges for preparations under the care of Gibson, extend from the 29th of February to the 7th of March. Stow informs us, that at this date' was holden solemn justs at Greenwich,' in which the King and eleven others were on one side, and the Marquis of Exeter with eleven more of the opposite party. The 'pastimes' of the King and his court, in the Spring of the next year, were upon a scale of A. D. unusual magnificence. In that depository of 1527. so much valuable information on these subjects, the Chapter-house, Westminster, is a volume in folio with the following title:- A booke of payments of money 'disbursed by Sir Henry Gwildforde, knight, and Sir • Thomas Wyat, knight, in the building of a Banket'ing-house at the king his manor of Grenewiche.' It was a temporary erection of wood and canvass; and why, in this instance, Sir H. Guildford, the comptroller of the King's household, and Sir Thomas Wyat, the poet, were called upon to interfere with their superintendence, may, perhaps, be explained by the extraordinary amount of the expenditure, and the splendor of the exhibitions: the banqueting-house alone cost £760. 4s. 7d., and it was entered by two arcks tri' omphant of antique works.' Charges for lions, 'dragons,' &c., might be looked for in the ordinary course of such amusements; but an item for 'dyvers ❝ necessaries bought for the trymmyng of the Father ' of Heaven,' would be hardly expected: it seems, however, to establish the curious fact, that as late as 1527, in a pageant performed at Court, the Creator was introduced as a character, in the same manner as he had been in the old Miracle-plays. St. George likewise figured in the spectacle, and 4s. were paid for the work of two tailors for two days upon his coat. The wages of the Italian painters (whose names are given, viz., Vincent Vulpe, Ellys Carmyan, Nicholas Florentyne, and Domingo) amounted to £43. 10s. 8d.; and connected with this part of the expense we must not omit to mention a representation of Terouenne, called 'a plat of Tirwan,' for the execution of which 'Maister Hans' received £4. 10s. This scene (if it may so be called) was painted upon canvass, and placed at the back of one of the triumphal arches. The workmen were employed night and day from the 27th of February to the 26th of March, although the revels did not in fact take place until the 4th of May; and so pressed do the superintendents appear to have been for time, that a letter was sent to the Lord Mayor 'for his command for workemen to help the tornors makyng pillers. Two of the most curious items of charge are the following, which add another name to the list of our dramatic authors, and, if understood literally, prove that at that date, when undertaken even for the Court, play-writing was not a very profitable employment. 'Itm to John Redemen for wrytyng of the [a word not 'legible] 4 daies and more, 3s. 8d. |